Button States
Overview:

This dialog allow you to access various general settings affecting the following button state settings:

  • Text
  • Background
  • Edge
  • Sound

Currently selected State

This drop-down menu controls which state is selected for editing and display in the edit window.

  • Up State:  Edit the currently selected button(s) appearance when it is in the up position.
  • Mouse-Over:  Edit the currenly selected button(s) appearance when the cursor is over the button.

    •
  • Down State:  Edit the currently selected button(s) appearance when it is pressed and is in the down position.
  • All States: Edit all of the button states of the currently selected button(s) at once.

Copy last change to all states

This is a very handy control for copying button properties to other button states.  That is, it will copy the last change you made to other the two button states you are not currently editing.

Example:
If you wanted to make the font size the same for all three button states, first select your new font size, then click Copy last change to other button states. If you want to copy an existing setting to the other states (without changing it), just click on the property (e.g. the bitmap Name), then click Copy last change to other button states.

Copy last change to all buttons

Another handy control for copying button properties, this button copies the last change you made to other buttons.

If the last change was made to a button state property, such as the mouse-over color, the change is copied only to the mouse-over state of other buttons.  That is, the change is not copied to all states, of all buttons.

Example:
If you wanted to make all buttons behave have left aligned text, first select any button, select to edit All States, select align left on the text tab and then click Copy last change to other buttons.

Note:
For more a powerful and selective method of copying attributes between buttons we recommend you use the Selective Copy and Paste tool.

Button Text :


Text:
The text displayed to the user for the currently selected button state. You can create multi-line text on buttons by pressing Enter in the text edit box, and entering text on the line(s) below.  You can have as many lines of text as you like.

Note: Text can be different in all three button states.  You can quickly copy text to the other states by clicking in the Text Area box and pressing the Copy last change control.

Same text on all button states:
If selected the next change made to the text field will replace all states for this button. NB: Unless you edit the text after this is checked no change will be made.

Font:
Specifies the font and font size for this button state. Thanks to 1 Cool Menu FX Tool's font technology you can use any True Type font on your system. As the font is packaged with the applet or flash file it does not need to be on the users machine for it to be displayed correctly. Keep in mind the more fonts you use the larger your applet or flash file will be.

Colour and Style:
Clicking on the Text Color swatch will display the Color Dialog where you can select a color or enter the RGB values of a color. Bevel-style text, both raised and recessed are available. Beveled text can look particularly effective on textured backgrounds.

Alignment:
Specifies how the text is aligned for this button state.  Text can aligned to the left, right, or center, or you can specify the position of the text exactly.
When you choose Set Text Offset (the right-most option) an extra handle will appear in the Button Editor Window.  Use this handle to drag the text to the desired position or simply adjust the x and y values.

Extended or International Character Sets:
1 Cool Menu FX Tool supports extended characters (such and symbols, bullets etc.) and well and International character sets. If you are using extended or foreign characters avoid clicking on the text when using the Define Buttons tab. The button list control will re-write the extended characters as "?".

Background:


A button can have one of three button backgrounds:

  • Opaque: A button with a single solid color - uses Button Color 1.
  • Transparent:  No button shape is drawn at all.  The text label and bitmap are drawn directly onto the background.  Transparent buttons are great for creating non rectangular overlapping buttons from transparent GIF bitmaps.
  • Gradient: A button with two colors which are blended together using one of 20 gradient fill patterns. Gradient fills can add some extra polish to your buttons.

Bitmap:
Specifies the bitmap to be displayed on the button for this button state.  The only bitmap formats supported are GIF and JPEG.

You can either type a bitmap name into the edit box, or open the File Dialog Box.

If the button has a transparent background and no edges (flat) all you see is the bitmap.  If the bitmap is a transparent GIF, the transparency is preserved and the button can be a non-rectangular shape.
Use to make a GIF bitmap transparent.

Alignment:
Specifies how the bitmap is aligned for this button state.  The image can aligned to the left, right, or center of the button, or the bitmap can be scaled to fit the button.

If you also choose Set Bitmap Offset (the rightmost option) an extra handle will appear in the Button Editor Window.  Use this handle to drag the image to the desired position inside the button or enter the x and y values directly.

 

Edge:


A button edge can have one of four styles:

  • Bevel: A rounded edge.
  • Chisel: A flat angled edge.
  • Frame: A frame-style edge.
  • Flat: No edge.

Edge State:
Select Raised or Depressed edge states to create the appearance of a button being up or down.

Edge Color:
Sets the edge color for the currently select state(s).

Edge Size:
Sets the width of the edge. Smaller values give the appearance of a flatter, lower profile button, whereas larger values create thicker and higher profile looking buttons.

Shading Level: (Light. Medium and Heavy)
Only available for Bevel edge styles. Affects the shading contrast in Bevelled edges.

Border:
Specifies the thickness of the border for this button state. Borders are colored rectangles drawn outside the button area

Border Color:
Specifies the color of the border for this button state. Clicking on the Button Color swatch will display the Color Dialog where you can select a color or enter the RGB values of a color.

Sound:


Specifies the sound to be played for this button state.  

The rules for when button sounds are played are:.

  • When the cursor enters the button the Mouse Over sound is played.

  • When the button is pressed the Down State sound is played.

    •
  • When the button pops up after being down, the Up State sound is played.

(Note that the up state sound is not played when the mouse cursor exits the button.)

You can either type a sound file name into the edit box, or click on the button to open the File Dialog Box.

Sound Playback Modes:
Specifies how the sound is played.  By default, the sound is played to completion, and if a new sound starts before it has finished, the sounds are automatically mixed.

Alternatively, you can select Stop playing sound when button state changes, which truncates the sound when the button state changes, or Loop sound which repeats the sound continuously until the button state changes.

JAVA applets:
The only sound format supported by Java is Sun Microsystems AU format. However, 1 Cool Menu FX Tool will let you choose a Microsoft WAVE File (.wav) which will be converted to an AU file of the same name.  

FLASH files:
 The only sound format supported by Flash is MP3. However, 1 Cool Menu FX Tool will let you choose a Microsoft WAVE File (.wav) which will be converted to an MP3 file of the same name. The wav will be converted to a MP3 with the following attributes: 44100 Hz, 48 Kbps, Mono. These setting have been chosen in order to achieve high compression without sacrificing too much sound quality. If you have different needs you will need to convert the wav using a specific wav-mp3 conversion tool.

Note: All sound files contained in the audio folder of 1 Cool Menu FX Tool are provided in both .au and .mp3 format. You can select either in the editor and 1 Cool Menu FX Tool will automatically use the correct format for the output you have chosen.